Loup County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Loup County: 0.
2. Weak tornadoes were under-recorded before Doppler radar coverage became national in the early 1990s, so earlier decades read low. Ratings use the Fujita scale before February 2007 and the Enhanced Fujita scale after.

Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, 1950 to 2025.

Smoke overhead

1. A smoke day is a date on which a smoke plume traced by NOAA Hazard Mapping System analysts from satellite imagery covered this place's point (the county's population centre or the city centre). Counts here are of medium or heavy smoke. Since 2018 analysts have often drawn light smoke as one area over most of the continent, so light-smoke counts are not comparable from year to year. The plumes show smoke anywhere in the air above, not air quality at the ground, and smoke hidden by cloud is missed.

NOAA Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, 2011 to 2026, retrieved October 30, 2026.

OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 2026.

River crests

River gauges

1. Crests are the highest and the recent crests the National Weather Service lists for each river gauge in the county that has a flood stage, not every flood. Flood categories use each gauge's current flood stages; crests from before levees, dams or channel changes may not be comparable. Crests measured on an old datum are left out of the rankings.

NOAA National Water Prediction Service gauge records, retrieved October 30, 2026.

1. The Palmer Drought Severity Index is computed by NOAA each month from the county's average temperature and precipitation, relative to the county's own climate. Zero is normal; -3 or lower is severe drought and -4 or lower extreme drought. It describes the long-term balance of moisture, not water supply or crop losses.

NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, 1895 to September 2026, issued October 6, 2026.

Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles

1. Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more in the USGS Comprehensive Catalog since 1900. Within 50 miles means the epicentre lies within 50 miles of the county boundary (or inside the county).
2. Small earthquakes were under-recorded before the modern seismic networks of the 1970s and are still missed in remote areas, so early decades read low. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them and mix scales (moment, local and body-wave).

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, 1900 to present, retrieved October 30, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jul 1, 2012Drought, Loup$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Severe drought conditions (D2), which began the month of June, intensified to extreme drought conditions (D3) by the end of the month. Pastures that make up close to 89 percent of the land use in Loup County (2007 Census USDA) was rated 69% poor or very poor. The lack of rain limited grazing capacity as the departure from normal precipitation reached below 2 inches. Crop producers began silage of dryland corn. On July 23rd all counties in Nebraska were approved for CRP Emergency Haying and Grazing. The drought continued into August.

2. Jun 12, 2010Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms with prolonged heavy rain falling on already saturated ground caused widespread flooding. A foot of water covered Highway 91 from mile marker 35 to 37 between Brewster and Taylor. The Highway 183 bridge across the North Loup River was washed away as 4 to 6 inches of rain fell over the river basin. Numerous secondary roads were under water or washed away.

3. Oct 31, 2000Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado was on the ground as it moved into Loup county 2 miles southeast of Taylor. The tornado moved north northeast reaching a ranch 1 mile southeast of Taylor where several buildings were damaged. Then 2 outbuildings were destroyed at a farmstead 3 miles north northeast of Taylor with several buildings damaged including the home. There was also extensive damage to machinery, fences and power poles. As the tornado remained on the ground a farm building was damaged and pickup truck overturned 4 miles north northeast of Taylor before the tornado lifted.

4. Jul 22, 2000Hail$100,000
5. Aug 19, 2017Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado moved through a 100 year old shelter belt uprooting numerous trees. The tornado then passed through a recently vacated farmstead with several outbuildings. All of the outbuildings were completely destroyed. Sheet metal and wood from the outbuildings were found over a half a mile away. A boat parked at this location was destroyed and parts from the boat were found in a nearby field less than a mile away. Damage to the home was confined to the roof with debris from one of the outbuildings penetrating the attic of the home.

6. Aug 19, 2017Thunderstorm Wind$55,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds estimated at 90 MPH flipped a center pivot and caused significant tree damage just west of Almeria.

7. Aug 19, 2017Tornado$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado touched down and traveled approximately 2 miles to the south southeast. The tornado partially removed a roof off of a well built home. In addition, to the damaged roof, numerous power poles were snapped off along the tornado's path.

8. Jul 17, 2001Tornado$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   As the supercell continued to track northeast and intensify, a second tornado touched down on the north side of the reservoir about 17 miles north northeast of Taylor. The second tornado was larger and longer lived as it moved across open rangeland. Four windmills were destroyed and 36 cattle were instantly killed. An additional 14 cattle were destroyed due to injuries. The tornado lifted as it moved toward the Loup and Garfield county line on the north side of Calamus Reservoir.

9. Jul 2, 2001Hail$30,000
10. Aug 19, 2017Hail$30,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Numerous broken windows and holes in siding due to large hail at this location.

1. Storm Events records before 1996 cover only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail. Damage figures are as reported by the National Weather Service at the time, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 1950 to 2026, issued October 26, 2026.

All-time high

114°FJul 11, 1954

All-time low

−34°FJan 27, 1963

Warmest night

79°FJun 30, 1963

Coldest day

−10°F3 times, most recently Dec 21, 1990

Wettest day

5.80 inAug 23, 1983

Snowiest day

16.4 inJan 19, 2023

Hottest year

2012mean 52.2°F

Coldest year

1950mean 45.1°F

Wettest year

200736.69 in

Driest year

195510.45 in

Snowiest season

67.5 in1983-84

Station Burwell 2WSW (USC00251345), 2,255 ft elevation, 13.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1948 to October 26, 2026; 90.7% of days in the last 30 years are complete. Records at a single station can differ from a city’s official threaded record, which may combine several stations.

NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily.

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, retrieved October 30, 2026. Statewide declarations are not listed.

Neighbouring counties

• Tornadoes NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, through 2025.
• Tropical cyclones NOAA National Hurricane Center HURDAT2 (Atlantic; Northeast and Central Pacific), through 2025.
• Wildfire USGS/USFS Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity, through 2026.
• Storm events NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, through 2026.
• Flood insurance OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026.
• Declarations OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Weather records NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily, station USC00251345.
• River crests NOAA National Weather Service, National Water Prediction Service river gauges, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Drought NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, through September 2026.
• Smoke NOAA NESDIS Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Earthquakes USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat), retrieved October 30, 2026.

Joins, thresholds and known limits are set out in the methodology. Found an error? Report it. Page built October 30, 2026.